Long-range remote solenoid-valve actuator

ABSTRACT

The present invention teaches a solenoid-valve actuator that is battery-powered and communicates remotely and wirelessly (e.g., via LoRaWAN) to a gateway that communicates with the internet, thereby enabling a user to remotely control fluid flow through a solenoid valve. The end device interfaces to a range of latching solenoid operated valves, e.g., for the control of water flow in irrigation systems.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patentapplication No. 62/699,972, entitled “Remote Enabled Solenoid-ValveActuator”, filed Jul. 18, 2018. The provisional application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to irrigation systems and, morespecifically, to long-range remote control of one or more desired areaswithin irrigation systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An irrigation system is an apparatus that enables the application ofcontrolled amounts of water to plants at needed intervals. Commonlocations where irrigation systems are used are campuses and shoppingcenters, where an irrigation system is typically automated and comprisesthree main parts—a controller, solenoid valves, and sprinklers.

A controller is the brain of an irrigation system that opens thesolenoid valves, thereby allowing water to flow through the solenoidvalves to the sprinklers and ultimately to the plants needingirrigation. A conventional controller sends a 24 VAC signal to asolenoid valve via copper wire that is buried underground and oftenspans hundreds of feet. Thus, due to the presence of dozens of valves ona typical site there may be thousands of feet of buried wire forcontrolling irrigation. (Note: an AC solenoid valve remains closedunless it receives a continuous 24 VAC signal from the controller.)

This configuration often causes problems because irrigation wires getcut after installation (e.g., cut by another landscaper digging on siteto install plants), rendering parts of the irrigation system inoperable.Another disadvantage is that lightning can significantly damage such asystem, as it is interconnected by conductive wires.

The state-of-the-art solution for dealing with these problems is toavoid installing a centralized controller. Instead, a battery-operatedcontroller, such as Rain Bird TBOS-BT device, is connected to eachvalve. A TBOS-BT device can control 1, 2, 4, or 6 valves at a time,depending on the model. While this method avoids burying long spans ofwire underground, it has a disadvantage—in order for a user to changethe irrigation schedule on a TBOS-BT device, as is typically requiredseveral times a year based on fluctuating seasonal rainfall andtemperature, the user must travel to the job site and walk within rangeof a TBOS-BT device (i.e., within several hundred feet maximum) tointerface with it via a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone app. Thus, aTBOS-BT schedule cannot be updated or changed from a long-range remotedistance (e.g., any distance greater than several hundred feet maximum).

Further, TBOS-BT devices cannot be shut off from a long-range remotedistance if it starts to rain on a site. This causes water to be wastedand plants to be overwatered, potentially negatively impacting theplants and the curb appeal of the landscape site. Thus, a need remainsfor an irrigation control system including one or more long-range remotesolenoid-valve actuators that enables a user to control irrigation on asite remotely—from anywhere that is connected to the Internet—whileavoiding utilizing thousands of feet of wire buried underground.

DEFINITIONS

Long-Range Remote Solenoid-Valve Actuator or “End Device”—abattery-powered apparatus that includes an antenna and an embeddedlow-power wireless communication device. An end device, wheninterconnected with other apparatuses of the present invention, enableslong-range remote actuation of a wire-connected solenoid valve.

Gateway—a device, including an antenna, that enables two-way remotecommunication between one or more end devices and a network server. Agateway is a piece of networking hardware used for telecommunicationsnetworks that allows data to flow from one discrete network to another.Gateways are distinct from routers or switches in that they communicateusing more than one protocol. Concerning the present invention, agateway located centrally on a site communicates to one or more remoteend devices; the gateway also communicates to the Internet via Cellular,Ethernet, or WiFi technology.

Network Server—servers that route messages from gateways to a RESTfulAPI backend, and back.

API—in computer programming, an application programming interface (API)is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building softwareapplications. An API expresses a software component in terms of itsoperations, inputs, outputs, and underlying types. An API definesfunctionalities that are independent of their respectiveimplementations, which allows definitions and implementations to varywithout compromising each other.

A RESTful API is an application program interface (API) that uses HTTPrequests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. A RESTful API is based onrepresentational state transfer (REST) technology, an architecturalstyle and approach to communications often used in web servicesdevelopment. REST technology is generally preferred to the more robustSimple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) technology because REST leveragesless bandwidth, making it more suitable for internet usage.

Application Software or “App”—a set of one or more programs designed tocarry out operations for a specific application. Application softwarecannot run on itself but is dependent on system software to execute.Examples of application software include MS Word, MS Excel, a consolegame, a library management system, a spreadsheet system etc. The term isused to distinguish such software from another type of computer programreferred to as system software, which manages and integrates acomputer's capabilities but does not directly perform tasks that benefitthe user. The system software serves the application, which in turnserves the user.

The term “app” is a shortening of the term “application software”. Ithas become very popular and in 2010 was listed as “Word of the Year” bythe American Dialect Society. Apps are usually available throughapplication distribution platforms, which began appearing in 2008 andare typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system. Someapps are free, while others must be bought. Usually, they are downloadedfrom the platform to a target device, but sometimes they can bedownloaded to laptops or desktop computers.

BLUETOOTH—a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over shortdistances (using short-wavelength UHF radio waves in the ISM band from2.4 to 2.485 GHz) from fixed and mobile devices and building personalarea networks (PANs).

Client—a piece of computer hardware or software that accesses a servicemade available by a server. The server is often (but not always) onanother computer system, in which case the client accesses the serviceby way of a network. The term applies to programs or devices that arepart of a client-server model.

Electronic Mobile Device—any computer, phone, smartphone, tablet, orcomputing device that is comprised of a battery, display, circuit board,and processor that is capable of processing or executing software.Examples of electronic mobile devices are smartphones, laptop computers,and table PCs.

Firmware—a software program or set of instructions programmed on ahardware device. It provides the necessary instructions for how thedevice communicates with the other computer hardware.

Global Positioning System (GPS)—a space-based navigation system thatprovides location and time information in all weather conditions,anywhere on or near the earth where there is an unobstructed line ofsight to four or more GPS satellites. The system provides criticalcapabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world.The United States government created the system, maintains it, and makesit freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)—a type of interface that allows users tointeract with electronic devices through graphical icons and visualindicators such as secondary notation, as opposed to text-basedinterfaces, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs wereintroduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve ofcommand-line interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed onthe keyboard.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)—an application protocol fordistributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is thefoundation of data communication for the World Wide Web. Hypertext isstructured text that uses logical links (hyperlinks) between nodescontaining text. HTTP is the protocol to exchange or transfer hypertext.

The Internet of Things (IoT)—a system of interrelated computing devices,mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that areprovided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer dataover a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computerinteraction.

The Internet Protocol (IP)—the principal communications protocol in theInternet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across networkboundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, andessentially establishes the Internet.

Internet Protocol address (IP address)—a numerical label assigned toeach device (e.g., computer, printer) participating in a computernetwork that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP addressserves two principal functions: host or network interface identificationand location addressing.

Internet service provider (ISP)—an organization that provides servicesfor accessing, using, or participating in the Internet.

iOS (originally iPhone OS)—a mobile operating system created anddeveloped by Apple Inc. and distributed exclusively for Apple hardware.It is the operating system that presently powers many of the company'smobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

LoRaWAN—a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol designed towirelessly connect battery operated ‘things’ to the internet inregional, national or global networks, and targets key Internet ofThings (IoT) requirements such as bi-directional communication,end-to-end security, mobility and localization services.

The LoRaWAN specification defines three device types. All LoRaWANdevices must implement Class A, whereas Class B and Class C areextensions to the specification of Class A devices.

Class A devices support bi-directional communication between a deviceand a gateway. Uplink messages (from the end device to the server) canbe sent at any time (randomly). The end device then opens two receivewindows at specified times after an uplink transmission. If the serverdoes not respond in either of these receive windows, the nextopportunity will be after the next uplink transmission from the enddevice. The server can respond either in the first receive window, or inthe second receive window, but should not use both windows.

Class B devices extend Class A by adding scheduled receive windows fordownlink messages from the server. Using time-synchronized beaconstransmitted by the gateway, the end devices periodically open receivewindows.

Class C devices extend Class A by keeping the receive windows openunless they are transmitting. This allows for low-latency communicationbut is many times more energy consuming than Class A devices.

Mobile App—a computer program designed to run on smartphones, tabletcomputers and other mobile devices, which the Applicant/Inventor refersto generically as “a computing device”, which is not intended to be allinclusive of all computers and mobile devices that are capable ofexecuting software applications.

Mobile Device”— a generic term used to refer to a variety of devicesthat allow people to access data and information from wherever they are.This includes cell phones and other portable devices such as, but notlimited to, PDAs, Pads, smartphones, and laptop computers.

Operating System (OS)—software that manages computer hardware andsoftware resources and provides common services for computer programs.The operating system is an essential component of the system software ina computer system. Application programs usually require an operatingsystem to function.

Push Notification, Push, or server push—a style of Internet-basedcommunication where the request for a given transaction is initiated bythe publisher or central server. It is contrasted with pull/get, wherethe request for the transmission of information is initiated by thereceiver or client.

Server—a running instance of an application (software) capable ofaccepting requests from the client and giving responses accordingly.Servers can run on any computer including dedicated computers, whichindividually are also often referred to as “the server”.

Smart Device—an electronic device, generally connected to other devicesor networks via different wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, NFC,Wi-Fi, LiFi, 3G, etc., that can operate to some extent interactively andautonomously.

Software Application—a program or group of programs designed for endusers. Application software can be divided into two general classes:systems software and applications software. Systems software consists oflow-level programs that interact with the computer at a very basiclevel. This includes operating systems, compilers, and utilities formanaging computer resources. In contrast, applications software (alsocalled end-user programs) includes database programs, word processors,and spreadsheets. Figuratively speaking, applications software sits ontop of systems software because it is unable to run without theoperating system and system utilities.

Smartphone or “smart phone”—a mobile phone with more advanced computingcapability and connectivity than basic feature phones. Smartphonestypically include the features of a phone with those of another popularconsumer device, such as a personal digital assistant, a media player, adigital camera, and/or a GPS navigation unit. Later smartphones includeall of those plus the features of a touchscreen computer, including webbrowsing, wideband network radio (e.g. LTE), Wi-Fi, 3rd-party apps,motion sensor and mobile payment.

URL—an abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator (URL), it is the globaladdress of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web (alsoreferred to as the “Internet”).

User—any person registered to use the computer system executing themethod of the present invention.

Web Application or “web app” is any application software that runs in aweb browser and is created in a browser-supported programming language(such as the combination of JavaScript, HTML and CSS) and relies on aweb browser to render the application.

Website (also written as web site, web site, or simply site)—acollection of related web pages containing images, videos or otherdigital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server,accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local areanetwork through an Internet address known as a Uniform Resource Locator(URL). All publicly accessible websites collectively constitute theWorld Wide Web.

Web Page (also written as webpage)—a document, typically written inplain text interspersed with formatting instructions of Hypertext MarkupLanguage (HTML, XHTML). A web page may incorporate elements from otherwebsites with suitable markup anchors.

Web pages are accessed and transported with the Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP), which may optionally employ encryption (HTTP Secure,HTTPS) to provide security and privacy for the user of the web pagecontent. The user's application, often a web browser displayed on acomputer, renders the page content according to its HTML markupinstructions onto a display terminal. The pages of a website can usuallybe accessed from a simple Uniform Resource Locator (URL) called thehomepage. The URLs of the pages organize them into a hierarchy, althoughhyperlinking between them conveys the reader's perceived site structureand guides the reader's navigation of the site.

Wi-Fi (also spelled Wifi, WiFi, or wifi)—a local area wirelesstechnology that allows an electronic device to exchange data or connectto the internet using 2.4 GHz UHF and 5 GHz SHF radio waves. The name isa trademark name and is a play on the audiophile term Hi-Fi. The Wi-FiAlliance defines Wi-Fi as any “wireless local area network (WLAN)products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards”. [1] However, since most modernWLANs are based on these standards, the term “Wi-Fi” is used in generalEnglish as a synonym for “WLAN”. Only Wi-Fi products that complete Wi-FiAlliance interoperability certification testing successfully may use the“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED” trademark.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention teaches a solenoid-valve actuator, also referredto as an “end device”, that is battery-powered and communicates remotelyand wirelessly (e.g., via LoRaWAN) to a gateway that communicates withthe internet, thereby enabling a user to remotely control fluid flowthrough a solenoid valve. The end device interfaces to a range oflatching solenoid operated valves, e.g., for the control of water flowin irrigation systems.

The present invention is controlled via an app for a mobile device suchas a smartphone or tablet that interfaces with a RESTful API backend, anetwork server, and one or more gateways to operate one or more deployeddevices on one or more sites, e.g., campuses, shopping centers, treefarms, and nurseries. The app enables a user to schedule actuation anddeactuation of a solenoid valve—either on a cyclic or weekly basis orimmediately—via an end device that is connected to a solenoid valve viashort (e.g., 12″) wires.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate the present invention and, togetherwith the description, further serve to explain the principles of theinvention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to makeand use the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration and interconnectedness of theinternet, a gateway, an end device, and a solenoid valve.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the present invention showing a plurality ofsolenoid valves, each connected to a corresponding end device taught bythe present invention, where in this exemplary embodiment the enddevices communicate with a gateway using LoRaWAN, and the gatewaycommunicates via a cellular network to Network Servers and a RESTful APIbackend located in the Internet, and the RESTful API backend connects tomobile electronic devices such as smartphones and tables via a cellularconnection.

FIG. 3a illustrates a perspective view of the end device taught by thepresent invention.

FIG. 3b illustrates a close-up view of the QR code used to uniquelyidentify each end device by providing a unique communication networkaddress.

FIG. 4 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a display directing a user to scan a QR code to establisha new end device in the system.

FIG. 5 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a site edit screen for the app taught by the presentinvention where a user is in the process of adding, deleting, or editinga site in the system and providing identifying information for the site.

FIG. 6 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a login/registration screen for the app taught by thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a valve selection screen for the app taught by thepresent invention illustrating the dropdown menus for quickly selectingand controlling one or more valves located at a given site.

FIG. 8 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a screen for the app taught by the present inventionwhere GPS and mapping programs are integrated into the display to showthe location of one or more valves located at a selected site, were eachvalve can be selected individually and a battery-voltage status andsolenoid valve status such as open or closed is displayed.

FIG. 9 illustrates a typical multi-location distribution network of thevalve control network of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the invention of exemplaryembodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings (where like numbers represent like elements), which form a parthereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific exemplaryembodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodimentsare described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention, but other embodiments may be utilized andlogical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense,and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appendedclaims.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it isunderstood that the invention may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and techniques knownto one of ordinary skill in the art have not been shown in detail inorder not to obscure the invention. Referring to the figures, it ispossible to see the various major elements constituting the apparatus ofthe present invention.

The present invention teaches an irrigation-control system that allowslandscape irrigation contractors and horticulturists to controlirrigation remotely and wirelessly via solenoid-valve actuators or “enddevices”—which are wire-connected to and thus operate solenoidvalves—via an app, the Internet, and one or more LoRaWAN gatewayslocated centrally on a site. An end device can communicate upwards of4,000 feet non-line-of-sight with a gateway. With one or more enddevices and the accommodating app, a user can manage an irrigationsystem from anywhere in the world provided that there is internetaccess. The present invention also allows a user to remotely shut offirrigation on a site. This functionality is useful if it starts to rainor if rain is predicted in the near future on the site, as it conserveswater and can lead to better plant health due to avoiding overwatering.

The present invention relates to a solenoid-valve actuator, alsoreferred to as an “end device”, that is battery-powered and communicatesremotely and wirelessly (e.g., via LoRaWAN) to a gateway thatcommunicates with the internet, thereby enabling a user to remotelycontrol fluid flow through a solenoid valve. The end device interfacesto a range of latching solenoid operated valves, e.g., for the controlof water flow in irrigation systems.

The present invention can operate, for example, using the long rangeLoRaWAN radio protocol that is based in the license-free ISM band of theradio spectrum. Full details on the wireless protocol and itscapabilities can be found on the LoRa Alliance website,https://lora-alliance.org/.

FIG. 1 illustrates several components enabling the remote valve controlsystem of the present invention 100. A solenoid valve 101 is connectedvia wire to an end device 102 (in this case, in a 1:1 ratio). The enddevice 102 is wirelessly connected (e.g., via LoRaWAN 103) to a gateway104 which communicates (e.g., via cellular 105) with the Internet.

An end device includes firmware with the capability to execute thefollowing tasks. First, the firmware can enable an end device toautomatically deactuate a wire-connected solenoid upon installation ofbatteries into the end device. This is useful because in shipping, a DClatching solenoid can be jostled and switch into either an open orclosed position. Second, the firmware regulates the sleep and wakeintervals of an end device that, in turn, determine how often an enddevice communicates with the Internet; exemplary settings may be: 1×/10s for first hour after batteries installed and 1×/min thereafter. Thisis useful because a user is apt to test an end device within the firsthour after batteries are installed. The 1×/10 s interval allows the userto get virtually live feedback; the user does not have to wait a minuteto witness the execution of an actuation command. Further, the 1×/mincommunication (which could be configured to operate in a less-frequentinterval) thereafter is useful because it conserves battery life. Third,firmware receives and executes actuation commands from the Internet.Fourth, it determines the status of an end-device including (1) batteryvoltage to enable a user to know when to replace batteries and (2) mostrecent pulse sent (i.e., actuation or deactuation) to enable a user todetermine the current state of a solenoid valve. Fifth, it sends updatesto the Internet regarding the status of an end device, thereby enablinga user to view status data in the app. Sixth, it commands the end deviceto automatically deactuate a wire-connected solenoid subsequent to thefirmware identifying a low-battery voltage (e.g., 3.45 volts—a thresholdspecified during firmware development) within the end device. Seventh,it prevents an end device from executing any actuation commandssubsequent to the firmware identifying the low-battery voltage. This isa safety feature to prevent the unnecessary waste of water in the caseof an end device losing power subsequent to actuation of a solenoidvalve. Finally, the firmware enables configuration of the duration(e.g., in ms) of the electrical pulse that is sent from an end device toa solenoid valve to actuate the solenoid valve. This is useful becausedifferent solenoid-valve manufacturers specify different pulse durationsbe used on their respective solenoids; there is no industry-standardpulse length, and there are many different manufacturers in the market.

FIG. 2 illustrates the remote valve control system 107 of the presentinvention. Multiple end devices 108, 109, 110, wired to individualsolenoid valves 111, 112, and 113 are connected via LoRaWAN 103 to agateway 104 which communicates with the Internet 106 via a cellularconnection 105. The Internet 106 communicates with a network server 114.The network server 114 communicates with a RESTful API backed end 115 todeliver data via an application to a user of a mobile electronic device116 such as a smartphone or tablet. The application provides the useraccess to information including site and valve information. The user canalso send commands for specific sites and valves to the network serverthrough the smartphone application and RESTful API backend. The networkserver 114 can then send commands to the end devices using the gateway104. This completes the chain of communication between a remote user anda site with one or more valves for long-range remote control.

The present invention, once connected to a suitable network willtransmit a regular update on its status in the uplink message (e.g.,1×/min). The end device of the present invention currently operates as aClass A device and is required to send before it can receive a message.These messages are processed by the back-end systems to record thecurrent device status. If there are any pending downlink messages, thenthese are sent to the end device.

It is these downlink messages that include the instruction to turn on oroff the solenoid valves. The messages can include a duration, in hoursand minutes, to specify for how long the valve is to be in the on state.If no duration is specified, then the end device will turn off the valveafter a preset or default period of time, such as 60 minutes.

The RESTful API backend abstracts the features of the network server andadds additional features to optimize user-control of one or more enddevices. Certain data parameters that are essential for the operation ofend devices contains are not relevant to the network server (e.g., name,location, and all scheduling). Conversely, successful operation of enddevices only requires a limited number of the services provided by thenetwork server (e.g., the ability to read and write small data packets).

The algorithm within the API backend that schedules actuations (on aweekly or cyclic basis) is robust, i.e., the likelihood of the algorithmfailing is low. This is accomplished in the following manner:Periodically (e.g., every 30 seconds), an algorithm within the RESTfulAPI backend executes a search for every end device that is programmed toactuate on a cyclic or weekly basis. Upon identifying such an enddevice, the algorithm then ensures that the subsequent actuationschedule exists in a future-actuation queue within the RESTful APIbackend. If the algorithm does find a subsequent actuation schedule, thealgorithm performs no action. If the algorithm does not find asubsequent actuation schedule (e.g., due to an error, crash, etc.), thenthe algorithm recreates the subsequent actuation schedule from thestored schedule data within the RESTful API backend.

A user can create a new actuation schedule in the app, therebyoverwriting the previous schedule; this will cause the end device tooverwrite the previous schedule with the new schedule; the end devicethen stores and operates based on this new schedule until a differentschedule is subsequently created by the user.

FIG. 3a illustrates a perspective view of the end device 102 taught bythe present invention. FIG. 3b illustrates a close-up view of the QRcode 117 used to uniquely identify each end device 102 by providing aunique communication network address 118. FIG. 4 is a simulated screenshot of a mobile electronic device being presented with a displaydirecting a user to scan a QR code to establish a connection to a newend device 102 in the system 119.

FIG. 5 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a site edit screen for the app taught by the presentinvention where a user is in the process of adding, deleting, or editinga site in the system and providing identifying information for the site120.

FIG. 6 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a login/registration screen for the app taught by thepresent invention 121.

FIG. 7 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a valve selection screen 122 for the app taught by thepresent invention illustrating the dropdown menus 123 and 124 forquickly selecting and controlling one or more valves located at a givensite 125.

FIG. 8 is a simulated screen shot of a mobile electronic device beingpresented with a screen 126 for the app taught by the present inventionwhere GPS and mapping programs are integrated into the display to showthe location of one or more valves 127, 128, and 129 located at aselected site, were each valve can be selected individually and abattery-voltage status 130 and solenoid valve status 131 such as open orclosed is displayed.

FIG. 9 illustrates a typical multi-location distribution network 132 ofthe valve control network of the present invention. In a typicaldeployment of the present invention, a gateway 104 wirelesslycommunicates with a plurality of latching solenoid operated valves 101via end devices 102 of the present invention. In this example, eachsolenoid valve 101 is paired with one end device 102; however, multiplesolenoid valves 101 could be paired with a single end device 102. In theexample, the gateway 104 is located approximately a half mile from eachlatching solenoid operated valve as they extend out in variousdirections from the gateway 104 to create an irrigation control system.

The system and method of the present invention is set to run on one ormore computing devices, mobile electronic devices, or a combinationthereof. A computing device or mobile electronic device on which thepresent invention can run would be comprised of a CPU, storage device,keyboard, monitor or screen, CPU main memory and a portion of mainmemory where the system resides and executes. Any general-purposecomputer, smartphone, or other mobile electronic device with anappropriate amount of storage space is suitable for this purpose.Computer and mobile electronic devices like these are well known in theart and are not pertinent to the invention. The system can also bewritten in several different languages and run on a number of differentoperating systems and platforms.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detailwith reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions arepossible. Therefore, the point and scope of the appended claims shouldnot be limited to the description of the preferred versions containedherein.

As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of thepresent invention, the same should be apparent from the abovedescription. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the mannerof usage and operation will be provided.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of theprinciples of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of theinvention.

Thus, it is appreciated that the optimum dimensional relationships forthe parts of the invention, to include variation in size, materials,shape, form, function, and manner of operation, assembly and use, aredeemed readily apparent and obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art,and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawingsand described in the above description are intended to be encompassed bythe present invention.

Furthermore, other areas of art may benefit from this method andadjustments to the design are anticipated. Thus, the scope of theinvention should be determined by the appended claims and their legalequivalents, rather than by the examples given.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. An irrigation-controlapparatus comprising: a solenoid-valve actuator coupled to a solenoidvalve via a wired connection, the solenoid-valve actuator isbattery-powered and communicates wirelessly to a remote gateway; theremote gateway communicates with the Internet, thereby enabling a userto remotely control fluid flow through the solenoid-valve; and softwareincluded in the solenoid-valve actuator is capable of enabling thesolenoid-valve actuator to automatically deactuate a wire-connectedsolenoid upon installation of batteries into the solenoid-valveactuator.
 2. The irrigation-control apparatus of claim 1, whereinuser-control of a solenoid-valve actuator is enabled by the following: asoftware application for a mobile device; the software applicationserves as a user-interface for communicating with a RESTful API(Application Programming Interface) backend the RESTful API (ApplicationProgramming Interface) backend communicates with a network serverprovided by a network service provider; the network service providercommunicates with at least one gateway; and one or more gatewayscommunicate wirelessly with at least one solenoid-valve actuator.
 3. Theirrigation-control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the solenoid-valveactuator communicates wirelessly to a remote gateway via LoRaWAN.
 4. Theirrigation-control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the software includedin the solenoid-valve actuator is capable of regulating the sleep andwake intervals of a solenoid-valve actuator that, in turn, determine howoften a solenoid-valve actuator communicates with the Internet.
 5. Theirrigation-control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the software includedin the solenoid-valve actuator is capable of receiving and executingactuation commands from the Internet.
 6. The irrigation-controlapparatus of claim 1, wherein the software included in thesolenoid-valve actuator is capable of determining the status of anend-device, including: the battery voltage of a solenoid-valve actuator;and the most recent pulse sent.
 7. The irrigation-control apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the software included in the solenoid-valve actuator iscapable of sending updates to the Internet regarding the status of asolenoid-valve actuator, thereby enabling a user to view status data inan app.
 8. The irrigation-control apparatus of claim 1, wherein thesoftware included in the solenoid-valve actuator is capable ofcommanding the solenoid-valve actuator to automatically deactuate awire-connected solenoid subsequent to a software identifying alow-battery voltage within the solenoid-valve actuator.
 9. Theirrigation-control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the software includedin the solenoid-valve actuator is capable of preventing a solenoid-valveactuator from executing any actuation commands subsequent to a softwareidentifying a low-battery voltage.
 10. The irrigation-control apparatusof claim 1, wherein the software included in the solenoid-valve actuatoris capable of enabling configuration of a duration of the electricalpulse that is sent from the solenoid-valve actuator to the solenoidvalve to actuate the solenoid valve.
 11. An irrigation-control apparatuscomprising: a solenoid-valve actuator coupled to a solenoid valve via awired connection, the solenoid-valve actuator is battery-powered andcommunicates wirelessly to a remote gateway; the remote gatewaycommunicates with the Internet, thereby enabling a user to remotelycontrol fluid flow through the solenoid-valve; the solenoid-valveactuator communicates with the Internet on a less-than-one-minuteinterval for a specified duration after batteries are installed into thesolenoid- valve actuator; and subsequently, the solenoid-valve actuatorcommunicates with the Internet on a one-minute-or-greater interval.